


Surprise

by Sam_V



Series: Life at Wildcliff [6]
Category: Trials and Trebuchets (Podcast)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27716116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sam_V/pseuds/Sam_V
Summary: S.W.I.M. try and find something to cheer their mentor up because they keep almost giving him a heart attack.It kind of works?Update: this was written a little fast so I'm going to do a second read through and see if I need to correct some stuff
Series: Life at Wildcliff [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2010625
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Surprise

"I have an announcement to make." Winsler proclaimed once the group got to their office in the chapel and everyone had sat down. "I think we should get Artis something to say sorry for the trouble we caused in Nebulosis."

"What trouble?" Integrity asked, looking to the rest of the group for answers.

"You know; the orb fiasco, the bottomless pit, the underground party, the tower.". The group went quiet after that, their eyes dropping to the tables surface. They're minds wandered through Nebulosis with tired understanding of each of them going through something.

"Yeah, that wasn't exactly our best trip.". Serinepth sighed quietly as she rubbed the visible tip of the scar that ran from her shoulder downwards, brushing her hand against the necklace she had yet to find a meaning behind.

"I mean we didn't die." Integrity intoned as she stood up and walked to the bookshelf, snapping Serinepth out of her thoughts as she stood and followed her cousin.

"I can count on two hands the amount of times we almost died. Artis doesn't even know about all of them.". Serinepth argued, as she set the tea cups on the tray.

"Exactly." The gnome stood up on his chair. "Plus the whole thing with the orb, we've been causing Artis a lot of stress lately. The least we could do is give him something to show our appreciation."

"I really like that idea Winsler." Mira smiled to him from her spot, setting her current assignment out. "Did you have an idea what we should get him?". Serinepth and Integrity finished grabbing the snacks and drinks from the shelves and started making their way back to he group.

"Well, I don't have anything in particular in mind. I was thinking that maybe we could get him something he wants?" He gestured to the group for help. They all came together at the table as they started to brain storm.

"What does Artis like?" Mira asked no one, realizing that no one in the room seemed to have the answer.

"Well everyone likes snacks." Integrity noted, shrugging to herself.

"I don't think I know Artis that well compared to the rest of you guys," Serinepth thought out loud, taking her stirring spoon for her tea and taping her chin. "Usually, when I don't know what to get someone, I'll buy them something they use everyday, but fancy. Like a nice pen, or a high quality and durable notebook."

"Or a mug." Winsler added, sitting up suddenly as the idea bombarded him. "A nice big mug with little snacks in it that he might like?". This got the group's attention.

"I like it, that way we have a better chance of giving him something that he actually likes." Serinepth agreed with a smile, completely on board with the plan now.

"We could make him a card too," Mira suggested. "Write some nice words and say we appreciate him for mentoring and helping us."

"Aw I like that a lot," Integrity smiled before smacking her hand on the table. "I call drawing on the card."

"I call picking out the little things to put into the mug." Winsler called as he set his hand on top of hers.

"I'll pick the mug out." Serinepth set her hand on top of the two others.

"And I'll write what the card will say." She set her hand at the top. The group smiled to eachother as they set out their homework and study materials for the evening.

Operation: Artis Appreciation. Initiated.

***

Integrity and Mira sat in the library together at one of the side tables between the shelves. Between the two of them, in the middle of the table, was a small stack of parchment paper.

"I think it should start with a 'Dear Artis', and then it would go into us saying 'thank you' and 'sorry' and 'we promise not to get in anymore trouble'," the two girls looked at each other for a moment before Mira conceded. "Okay, maybe 'we promise to try and not get into trouble anymore."

"'We promise that the next time we're in trouble we'll try not to drag you into it?'" Integrity suggested as Mira tapped her pencil on the table, watching Integrity draw some little pictures of each persons face on the corners of the parchment that they were going to fold up.

"Honestly, that one sounds the most believable. 'We promise not to name you as our other accomplice'."

"'We promise to not make you our one phone call'." Integrity laughed out loud suddenly, causing someone to loudly shush them from somewhere, catching Mira off guard.

"Are we going to jail the next time something goes wrong?" She covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing too loud in the quiet space. "Does the school have jail cells? Can they legally put us into jail?" She whispered.

"I mean we've gotten into trouble a couple times now and last time we were really punished by the school we were in book jail.". Mira laughed out loud, quickly stifling it when there was another 'shush' and took a seperate page to try and and write the message. They worked in silence for a few minutes when Integrity looked over to Mira and leaned over the table to whisper to her. "We promise to not take you to jail with us.". The two of them burst into laughter and were swiftly kicked out of the library.

They apologized to Ava before quickly relocating to their office space in the chapel and finally got to work now that they got their goofs out of their system.

***

Meanwhile, Serinepth and Winsler decided the best place to start their search for the best gifts for Artis was to go to the schools student store and see if they could find anything. The two students made there way to the large room.

The school store held many different types of items; there were different articles of clothing with the Wildcliff icon on it, as well as mugs and notebooks and writing utensils with the same branding. On some shelves running along the back of the room were the different items needed for certain classes, all categorized by the subject and the year that the subject took place.

Winsler and Serinepth broke up to look for their contributions for the gift, Serinepth telling Winsler to pick out the snacks and she'd purchase everything together. Windsor wandered to the very limited snack section of the store, finding some corn chips, licorice, gummies, and some chocolate. He picked up the little bags of assorted snacks and put them under his arm as he looked around the rest of the store with some interest.

He looked at the shelf of class material from different years, reading over the different books and materials and feeling a sense of dread as the price seemed to go up with each complicated step forward. He looked around until he noticed a bag of big bad of dry tea leaves for one of the divination courses. It looked fancier then the other teas the school offered, maybe it would be a nice added touch. He brought everything over to the station at front and saw a young man flipping through the keychains next to him in boredom.

"Hi, can you tell me about this tea?" This caught the young man's attention as he looked over to he bag that Winsler set in front of him. He turned it over in his hand and set it back in front of Winsler.

"That's an herbal concoction used for the 4th year divination classes. Professor Deeptar believes that the stronger and higher qualities of tea can create more complicated and in-depth predictions. In all honesty, the teas from first year work just as good if your worried about the price." Winsler stared down at the bag for a moment.

"Does it have to be used for divination?". The guy behind the counter gave him a look.

"No, no specific tea has to only be used for divination. But if your going to just drink it you might want this." With that he set a tea steeper from the small section next to him. It was a simple silver ball with a hook to hang off the side of mugs. It was honestly perfect.

***

Serinepth looked around at the supplies section and found the quality lacking. Not to say that there was anything wrong with the notebooks branded with the schools icon, or the assortment of pens and pencils. While there would be nothing wrong with buying them for a quick replacement for classes, there was no way that she would buy these for another person as a gift. Feeling slightly disappointed, she gave one more attempt to see if she could find a nice mug of decent size, however everything was the same size basic size. She realized that she would probably have to write home for another order, something from one of the high quality ceramic businesses from home to make something that shows their appreciation better.

She looked away from the novelty items to go back to Winsler, who was by the register and waiting for her, making small talk with the cashier who was standing behind the station, when she noticed a lovely looking blanket folded up on one of the stands. Walking over, she felt the material. Though not as soft as she would personally like it did still feel comfortable to the touch. She took the top one off of the stack and unfolded it carefully to look at it in full view. It was a large deep blue blanket, the same blue as the robes given as part of their uniform. She was surprised to see that there was no large emblem ironed onto it, but instead a stiching of a mountain on the bottom half of the blanket. It over and decided that this would at least make the trip worthwhile, hoping Artis would like it. Folding up the blanket and walking to the station where Winsler had waved at her, she bought the items and smiled to the young man before the two made their way out of the store.

"Didn't find anything?" Winsler asked her as she thought of where she could purchase a good solid mug.

"No," she sighed, squeezing the blanket to her chest as they walked out of the building and made their way to the chapel. "Everything there screamed 'Wildcliff' a little too loud for my taste. I think I'm going to get an order done from home, I know a ceramicist who can get us a well made mug fast. Plus, they'll let us get something written on it."

"You know a lot of crafts workers, don't you?" Winsler asked, following her with ease as she walked slower then usual.

"Believe me when I say this, if you're a noble with no responsibilities and you live in Aroughs, the only fun thing to do, without breaking some rules, are getting custom designed furniture and clerics commissioned and then having a party."

"Doesn't sound very fun in general, but hey, there's a party at least. Back home we sometimes have these big family get together, where the entire family has a potluck and there's games for little cousins to play and sometimes the grown-ups tell stories about these great adventures."

"That sounds like a lot of fun. I know a lot about my family tree, but I haven't met my extended family face-to-face."

"Except for Integrity." Winsler pointed out. Serinepth nodded, smiling to herself.

"Got any interesting adventure stories?". She asked him as she opened the door to the chapel, letting him walk under her arm before she closed the door behind them.

"Well, when I say great adventures, what I really mean is stories about when they got in trouble when they were kids," they climbed the stairs at the front of the chapel. "But they told the stories with a lot of gusto." Serinepth laughed as they reached the next floor and they walked into the office where Mira and Integrity were snickering to themselves.

"Weren't you guys supposed to be in the library?". For some reason this seemed to set the women off into roaring laughter once again, leaving the other two standing in the doorway in confusion.

***

Once they calmed down, Serinepth updated them on the mug situation and brought up the fact that they could customize words onto it.

"World's Best Magic Dad." Integrity suggested, expanding her hands in front of her as if the words were floating before her eyes.

"Eh, doesn't that sound too forward?" Serinepth asked.

"It's not like we're actually asking him to be our dad." Mira judged. "Besides, 'World's Best Mentor' doesn't feel personal enough, you know?"

"Is he really the 'World's Best Mentor'?" Integrity questioned the group, squinting at them in intrigue.

"I mean, he hasn't dumped us for another group of kids yet." Winsler thought out loud.

"Because he can't, cause he cares about our wellbeing, even when we make him grow grey hair, cause he's our magic dad," Integrity argued her line of thought. The group thought quietly to themselves for a few moments before Serinepth groaned loudly and set her hands on the table.

"Okay fine, 'World's Best Magic Dad'. He cares about our well be like being, he looks out for us, he protects us, and I want Integrity to stop saying Magic Dad."

Integrity clapped happily at the win and looked to the others. Mira was already nodding and Winsler was smiling at the group.

"Magic dad it is." Winsler announced.

"Please stop saying Magic Dad, it sounds so weird." Serinepth complained from her chair.

"Imagine it on a mug." Mira laughed.

"I don't want to but it's going to happen." The rest of the group laughed while she wrote out the order.

***

"Guys this is a bad idea." Mira called after the rouge and wizard as they tried to sneak into the Necromancy department.

"Mira's right, we should just hand him the gift. This idea will most likely get us in trouble." Serinepth sighed, easily keeping up with them but nervous to call to much attention to them.

"Then it isn't a surprise." Integrity argued as they made their way down the stairs sneakily, even when the two tallest members walked normally and watched them with concern.

"Winsler please talk sense into her." Mira sighed to the gnome wizard who was currently hunched down next to the tiefling.

"I can't hear you, I'm in spy mode." Winsler whispered, pressing a finger to his ear as if he was talking through a mic.

"They're a lost cause, Mira, all we can do is make sure they don't get detention again.". Serinepth rested her hand on Mira's shoulder with a sigh, trying to hide her entertainment at their antics.

"We should probably have an alibi set up for us when they do get themselves caught." Mira and Serinepth stopped on the stairs, ignoring as the other two continues down the stairs. "We were in the dinning hall eating a mid afternoon snack." She suggested, Serinepth shook her head.

"No, too public. How about we say we were in the library studying?" Mira cringed slightly at the suggestion.

"I don't know if I'm allowed to go in the library anymore." She pinched her lips together when Serinepth gaped at her.

"What did you do?!" She whispered. "How do you get kicked out of the library?"

"I was laughing too loud."

"Why were you laughing in the library?" Serinepth looked genuinely confused at the notion.

"I blame integrity, she said we'd go to jail." Before Serinepth could ask what on Earth that meant, there was some cursing echoing from the bottom of the stairs, catching the two students attention. They made their way down the rest of the stairs quietly and froze at the site of Integrity trying to lock pick her way into their mentors office, Winsler standing back a few feet from her with the basket gift in his arms. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be anyone around, at this time of day everyone was usually out of their offices and doing other things in different parts of the school. as much as she didn't want to admit it, Mira could see that Integrity had sort of planned out this break-in. Serinepth had no problem with voicing her thoughts though.

"As funny as this was 5 minutes ago, I'd like to point out that breaking into Artis' office is very much something that we could get detention for." Has she finished saying this, she watched as her cousin pushed in the office door very quietly period Integrity looked to the group with bright eyes and pushed the door open completely before going inside, Winsler not that far behind her. Serinepth and Mira stood outside the office door, looking to each other in a panic. As quick as they were inside the room, Integrity and Winsler, now empty handed, quickly left the room and ran over to rejoin the group.

Integrity made some sort of hand gesture, and when no one said anything and looked at her and confusion, she rolled her eyes and brought her hand to the side of her mouth and whispered very quietly.

"The egg is in the basket." With a sigh, Serinepth started walking up the stairs again and the rest of them followed her up. They met no complication as they left the building, and once they reached the courtyard, the tall woman turned to the group.

"I'm going to hang out with my friends who don't break the rules." She repressed the genuine smile on her face before she turned and walked away.

"Those don't exist." Winsler responded without missing a beat.

"I don't know why I hang out with you guys." She called back.

"I love you too, cous." Integrity called. Serinepth turned to the group and blew a kiss before going off to look for Philip.

"See you guys at supper." Mira rolled her eyes with a laugh, heading off towards the library to see if she was allowed in there anymore.

***

Artis got back to his office a little later then he had intended to from the research archives. He unlocked his door and rubbed his face in his had and he pushed it open. He had hoped to return home and get a good night's rest for once, but he realized halfway through his studying it would be better to get everything done early. So now he found himself tired and hungry in the late evening, only now returning to his office to pack his things to go home for the night. The second he stepped into the room he noticed basket sitting in the middle of desk. He stared at it for a moment in confusion, this wasn't the first time that he had received a gift from one of the other professors, but it was definitely the first time that it had already been in his office opposed to leaning against his office door. He walked over to the wrapped gift and not iced a tag tied to the top of it.

_To: Artis_

_From: The Team_

He read the tag and confusion; what team was the tag referring to? He didn't know of any team that would give him a gift. Curious, he opened the wrapping and found a large blue mug with a marble design filled with individual bags of candy and a larger back of tea with a steeper in the bottom. He turned it over in his hand and on the other side, written in what seemed to be a silver colour, was 'World's Best Magic Dad' scrawled on the mug. This only seemed to confuse him more. Underneath the mug he saw a folded up blanket, closer inspection helped him realize it was from the student store, as was the candy. He lifted the mug out of the basket and placed it on the task, the blanket following period underneath it, at the bottom of the basket was a note. He pulled it out and read it with curiosity.

_Dear Artis,_

_We want to apologize for the trouble that we have caused you over the last couple of months. We realize that you didn't exactly sign up for mentoring a group of kids who get in trouble as much as we do, but we wanted to thank you for sticking with us for so long. We can't promise that we'll never get in trouble again, but we do promise, with the best of our ability, to not let the crime lead back to you._

_We wanted to get you something to show that we appreciate you and everything that you've done for us. I hope that the next time we all spend time together it isn't because we did something wrong first._

_\- S.W.I.M._

At the bottom, and slightly messier handwriting, was another message.

_P.S. Serinepth and I had nothing to do with this appearing in your office, we tried to stop them._

_\- Mira_

Artis stared at the note for a couple of moments, not quite sure how to react to the whole gift itself. He looked over all the items once again, taking the revelation of meaning to heart as he touched each individual item. In a weird way, it was sort of touching that they had surprised him with it, though he would never actually admit that to the students in case it encouraged them to do it again.

He sat in the silence of his office, ran his thumb over the mugs words, and found himself smiling to himself as he set the items back into the basket with care and packed up the rest of his things to return home for the night.


End file.
